Classic Film Buffs - Check in Here!

The two Hitchcock films that come to mind as equal to or greater than Vertigo, at least to my taste, are North by Northwest and Rear Window. that said, the Hitchcock movie i could watch on my death bed and die easy is Shadow of a Doubt. Where Vertigo jumped the shark was the rather cheesy effect where Stewart's face was zoomed in and out and the proto-psychedelic colors were super imposed. A thin reed to (*)(*)(*)(*) the film with, but I thought it was unnecessary and just a bit pretentious.

 

This is an attempt to allow Brits to use revisionism as a tool to discount American
films as the bellwether.
Citizen Kane being the operative.And - 2001: a Space Odyssey -{1968}
- Vertigo - is in no way Hitch's best film. I say - North by Northwest - {1959} which
is w/o question Cary Grants best film.Then Stewarts best Hitch film - Rear Window - {1954}
followed by - The Man Who Knew Too Much - {1956}.
I know film like the back of me hand.I have spent the better part of my life deliberating
Film.I was so good that - Imdb.com - actually adopted by insistence on a 10 star rating
system.That was in the late 1990's.

 

I was heartened to see John ford's masterpiece The Searchers on the list. Another Ford film The Informer didn't stand a ghost of a chance on a British top ten list!

 

I am a big Joseph Cotton fan. - Shadow of a Doubt - is one of his best.I personally
like - The Bottom of the Bottle - { 1956 } starring Van Johnson as his estranged brother.
of course Cotton's best is - The Third Man - {1949}.
Shadow is classic thriller.Third Man more of the same,however a better backstory and
creative use of camera tilt angle and authentic dark setting.
I kinda had a crush on Teresa Wright as a kid.Also Jeanne Crain.

 

- The Informer - is totally jaded by time.There is no way around that.
Like the movies of Greta Garbo,considered at one time the undisputed greatest of
al actress.Having read her first major Bio,I learned her calling.
Marlene Dietrich also had her best roles in the 30's.She was the Femme Fatale
to die for among any actress.Now a Lost art.
Victor Mclaglen was one tough cookie.In his prime who coulda kicked the
stuffing out of a young John Wayne.Them old timers were tough in character
more than the reels showed.Just like Douglas Fairbanks was as athletic as they come.
Buster Crabbe,Herman Brix { Bruce Bennett } and Johnny Weissmuller { Tarzan's}.

 

But the Brits would never consider a movie that glorified the IRA the way The Informer did as one of the top ten of all time!

And if you want to see the athletic Fairbanks, the tough as nail McLaglen and the debonair Grant all at once, the answer is as simple as Gunga Din.

 

and let us not forget Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum

 

Best Kirk Douglas roles? Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Ace in the Hole, Letter to Three Wives, The Champion just to name a few.

Robert Mitchum was always a great heavy. Cape Fear, Night of the Hunter, and The Killers comes to mind.

 

Aren't you shy at least 2 more Kirk vehicles.
Like one of my favorites.That being - Lonely Are the Brave - { 1962 } and
arguably his best - Detective Story - {1951}

 

Seriously. I'll never figure that one out, RR...

BTW, Scorsese is in one of the scenes in Kurosawa's Dreams, but I'll let you figure out which one on your own. He's so heavily made up you can only distinguish him from his voice...

 

I saw that earlier this week, as well. There's no way I would ever rank Vertigo over Citizen Kane, and I'm a big Hitchcock fan...

 

Lonely Are the Brave! Nice catch!

 

Robert Mitchum was great in Cape Fear. Robert De Niro really creeped me out in the re-make, too...

 

I have a big fancy edition of Seven Samurai on DVD and Scorsese has an extensive interview on the special features. Marty love Akira!

I wouldn't get too hung up on the way the Academy snubs Scorsese. The Academy doesn't have the best track record for picking the "best". 1964 winner for best original score? Mary Poppins. also released in 1964~ Help! with original score by Paul Macartney and john Lennon. go figure!

 

When Mitchum snapped that egg beside Lee Remick's head, she did not expect it. Mitchum was naturally spooky. I'm glad he and Gregory Peck had cameos in Scorsece's remake.

 

That he does.

Maybe it's my imagination, but I thought I could see Kurosawa's influence in Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead. The movie was unusually colorful for a Marty flick...

LOL - It's hard not to fault the Academy for how it has snubbed Scorsese. There's no question he should've gotten Best Picture & Director for Raging Bull and I thought Casino was better than the other films it was up against (was Sharon Stone's performance in that movie unbelievable, or what?). Yet, he gets an Oscar for The Departed? Sheesh, that's nowhere close to being his best film, IMO...

 

My theory on movie likeability hasn't changed.It's like food.If I don't like
it there is no way in trying to force myself because of a join the bandwagon
peer pressure.That is whY i don't care how much Woody Allen { who I like as Director }
swears by Ingmar Bergman.I don't like Bergman movies,I don't understand Bergman movies
and they are way to slow.
Of course I have favorite actors,Director and genre.I used to dislike Musicals but
have slowly developed an appreciation for some.However I always liked Damon
Runyon characters.

 

Let's give it up for the ladies! Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, my personal favorites Barbara Stanwyk and Jean Arthur, Greta Garbo and the lovely Rita Hayworth! These women could take your breath away, and at least in Bette Davis' case, could take your life and laugh about it later.

 

I always loved the Godfather trilogy - even the 3rd film which gets widely criticized, but is still very good.

 

Never a Barbara Stanwyk fan,especially as a kid growing into a film buff.Not until I read a
a couple detailed Bio's of her did I appreciate her considerable place in Filmdom.
She was the top income actress of the 40's.Very discilined.In fact she would shun those
standard Studio affairs { Party's } where many an Actress was expected in the glamour years
of the 30's to appear, smile and demonstrate goodwill.
Stanwyk was such a dedicated thespian and uncompromising pro she sometimes appeared
at the Studio all frumpy looking due to her staying up late and constant perfection in tweeking
her roles.She didn't seem too bothered by what the studio thought of her looks upon
entering the days's takes { screenings }.Which meant she was consumed about her craft,the
ability to perfect a role,not about being a glamour puss.
Just thought those here who follow this kinda stuff,would like to know.

 

Robert Mitchum's performance in that movie had an understated quality that I really liked. It would have been real easy to go overboard with that role, but he didn't. I don't know if that was the product of good acting, directing or both, but most of the credit has to go to Mitchum...

 

Davis and Hepburn are my favorites of that bunch, and I'll throw in an honorable mention to Eva Marie Saint.

Speaking of Eva Marie Saint, she was in the one Warren Beatty film I like, All Fall Down. I've always liked those films with such flawed and/or tormented (tragic?) characters (like Paul Newman's Hud and James Dean's Jett in Giant).

 

Which genre best exemplifies the American spirit of cinema? Some would automatically say the Western. That may be true with films like Red River, High Noon and The Searchers.

But I'm inclined to say the Gangster film. White Heat, Public Enemy, and The Godfather all speak to the same set of values: family is the most important thing of all and crime does not pay.

Any thoughts?

 

flawed and tormented? It all goes back to the characters written so well by the aforementioned Tennessee Williams. Brick, Maggie and Big Papa in A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, and the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon in Night of the Iguana are all terribly flawed and tormented, yet exude humanity.

 

Depends on the era.

Westerns were the stuff for a while, then they gave way to the gangster films, In the middle was Film noir (my favorite).

Next (for me) came the adventure films, Raiders, The Right stuff and so on.

Although, I know it's not technically film, I will watch EVERY episode of the Sopranos that I can find. Now THAT'S gangster for ya'